Humanity at its peak….

Tuberculosis or TB as we know is an infectious disease caused by bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). It generally affects lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. TB spreads through the air when TB positive patients cough, spit or sneezes.  Around one-third of world’s population is thought to be infected with TB, with new infections occur in about 1% of the population each year. In the year 2014 only, there were 9.6 million cases of active TB which resulted in 1.5 million deaths.

The government of India, Medical division is trying very hard to control the number of TB cases and even as we know for TB from diagnosis to treatment it’s all free, but yet there is one important component of getting well and that’s the food we intake, the major question that arises is, “Whether the food contains the required nutrients to provide us the immunity and power to resist the effects of TB on the body. Generally, it is seen that most of the patients who die of TB are from very poor background. They didn’t have money for the quality food to remain in the competition with TB. Many NGOs have come up with the idea of providing food for such patients but still, the number of poor and TB patients is still very high who don’t have facilities for such programs.

District TB Clinic-1 (DTC-1) Jaipur, Rajasthan, India has started a program for such purposes only. The doctors, lab technicians and other workers at DTC-1 take part in these activities in which the department at DTC provides necessary food elements such as grains, flour etc. to the neediest patients of the month. Last month only in June 2017 they have started this practice and will continue it every month, so as to ensure that patients get the required and correct treatment in the real sense. Instead of going to an NGO or any other organization for the help the workers there have individually contributed to the program whatever they can in terms of monetary help.

I salute the effort from them and wish all other TB clinics, in fact, all the clinics in the country try to implement such programs. This is because no one knows who is the real needy other than these Doctors, Lab Technicians who work at these labs and have seen the real condition of them. Hence, on an individual level as well as on the organizational level such programs should be implemented. All these programs will help us as a part to fight the disease problem in the country and make it better for living in INDIA.